I'm a re-enactor from over the waterway in London and I have started to try to pile together some information to do a 14th century galloglach and a 14th century Kern impression

I have already purchased Osprey's Gallowglass 1250-1600 and Osprey's Irish wars as well as some PDFs. I have already ordered my padded coat based around effigies from the 14th century and have a mail shirt and Bascinet. There are however some things I'm having trouble with.

What kind of cut did the leine croich have in this period as I have only seen 16th century examples?What length and what kind of head should the darts be?What kind of material should my brat be?Is there any provision for me wearing hoes?What type of dagger should I be wearing?

Hi James. As far as a 14th century leine goes, the rogart shirt is said to be 14th century, so if you google "rogart shirt" you should find a pattern. A brat would made from wool. I don't think that hoes would be suitable, but you could wear a pair of tight fitting trews, tough Gaelic people were famus for going bare legged. Any type of javelin/dart would probably work, and a bollock dagger would be most suitable for 14th century.

Stephen Curtin wrote:Hi James. As far as a 14th century leine goes, the rogart shirt is said to be 14th century, so if you google "rogart shirt" you should find a pattern. A brat would made from wool. I don't think that hoes would be suitable, but you could wear a pair of tight fitting trews, tough Gaelic people were famus for going bare legged. Any type of javelin/dart would probably work, and a bollock dagger would be most suitable for 14th century.

Cheers Stephen, the Rogart reference is a pretty good one so no long drooping sleeves which was pretty much what I thought. I already have a bollock dagger and have some Scottish references for it so that's all good. Would you know of some example of trews in that period? To be honest I did however plan to go bare legged most of time.

Sorry James, there are no surviving trews from this early. The only surviving trews that I'm aware of are from the 16th century, search for either the kilcommon outfit, or the dungiven outfit. You can buy a pattern for one of these at http://www.reconstructinghistory.com